Parent Group News & Information

A Silent Auction and Hootenanny celebrating the talents and treasures of our community.  On Saturday, May 9th, 2009 we will gather for our annual fundraiser at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon at 7pm. There will be food (served by Soul Dog), wine, beer, 4 live music acts and a silent auction to raise money for a school van. Tickets for the event are $25 for a single person, $40 per couple. Please contact the school or E-mail the Parent Group for more information, ticket purchase or to donate an item for the auction.

Earth Day

April 26, 11-4pm

The Parent Group will have a booth at Stony Kill Farm (near Beacon on 9D)  to celebrate Earth Day. We're planning to serve our famous vegetarian quinoa chili (recipe in the office). We would also like to offer face painting and hair wrapping. We need volunteers!

If you have a few hours to spare and would like to join us, please do. We need help making chili (you can bring a pot straight to the farm on the day). We would also welcome any baked goods (please include ingredients), face painters, hair wrappers and chili servers.

If you can't help please bring the kids and enjoy the day with us. There will lots of activities set up at the Manor House (which is where our booth will be) and the Draft Horse show is happening the same day at the other end of the farm, by the barns.

The Waitstaff at the Auction Run by the Parent Group

Older News

For the 2007-2008 year, our presence at the Harvest Festival at Stony Kill Farm in early October, was a great success and a great experience. We are already looking forward to being there next year! Our bake sale and face-painting fundraiser took in over $500!  As we approach the holidays, the Parent Group will host it’s annual Holiday Craft Day at the school where kids and parents alike get into the spirit of the season by mixing, mingling and crafting wonderful holiday gifts for giving.  After that there is talk of possibly hosting a series of Parenting Nights where we can get together to view and discuss a video based on Alfie Kohn’s book Unconditional Parenting which was read by several parents. There is also the possibility of a hosting Community Lighting through the sale of specially made Randolph Luminaries to benefit the school’s scholarship program and to round out the year, we are looking at a good old fashioned giant lawn sale in the Spring.  Keep your eye on the Friday Note for details.
 
During the 2006-2007 school year, the Parent Group raised over $17,000 at several events. Some of these included Beacon Sloop Club's Annual Pumpkin Festival, a highly successful auction of goods and services, and a beautiful Craft Fair.  We also sold local Alps Chocolates, Art Cards, and of course, continued the sale of our very successful "Randolph Cooks!", printed & bound cookbook featuring the delicious delights of the Randolph Community.

• We were happy and honored to use some of those funds raised to send our crazy about math, star gazing, fruit snatching Upstairs Teacher, Bradford King for a much deserved two week vacation to Alaska, after 20 years of service to the Randolph School. The Parent Group also hosted a BBQ Celebration for Brad on campus where friends past and present came to remember and revisit.

• Funds raised in 06-07 were also distributed in equal parts to each of the main groups, Downstairs, Upstairs and Upper School for the purpose of purchasing needed items not included in the budget. A few years ago, the Parent Group purchased a wireless weather station, which is used on a daily basis and has become part of the Upstairs curriculum. Much of our contributions also come in the form of time and talents.

• In spring of 2005, we were pleased to have been able to fund Diane Boujikian's trip to Reggio Emilia, in Italy. Diane has been a teacher in the Downstairs for over 20 years. Her trip was part of a tour of the school system there, organized for teachers from the United States. She was excited about the things she saw and learned there and hosted an informational slide show for the Randolph community upon her return. Information about the Reggio Emilia style of early education.

• Beyond fundraising, the Parent Group strives to offer fun and educational events for parents as well as our children. In the past, we have held talks on early childhood development and education, had speakers on homeopath treatment, had wreath-making and Ukrainian egg painting workshops, sponsored craft and sports days for kids on days when there was no school and have held cooking workshops. There are no limits to what we can do.

2005-06 Parent Group Newsletter (pdf)

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